European Integration Minister Gergana Grancharova announced last year that by 2011, all construction in Bulgaria will be regulated according to EU building standards. Whilst this may seem like a long way off and something to worry about in the future, new regulations will be introduced regularly from now on. If you are unsure as to how this will affect you, QBG gives you some pointers...

Nowadays it is not unusual to buy your Bulgarian dream home, move out here and have a baby! The dramatic increase in the numbers of young people choosing a permanent life in Bulgaria has lead to increases in the number of children born to foreign parents on Bulgarian soil. There are various issues like nationality and registration to consider if you decide to have your child here – QBG guides you through the maze of paperwork associated with being born in Bulgaria!

Friends and family often pitch in together in order to buy that dream property here in Bulgaria. This way they can afford a larger property, often in a better location or in better condition, maybe with a swimming pool - even perhaps run a business together.

But what are the risks in grouping together with others to buy a property through a Bulgarian company or run a business if one of the shareholders dies?

Making the decision to leave the UK is sometimes difficult when you associate it with saying goodbye to friends and family and many people cannot bear the thought of leaving their favoured family pet behind, however the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) now enables those who wish to emigrate from the UK to take their beloved pets with them. The scheme means that pets are no longer faced with long periods of quarantine and you can simply move your pet, family and furniture all in one go.

It is perfectly clear to every lawyer that nobody can avoid irreconcilable differences arising between parties even to the most perfectly drafted and carefully negotiated contracts. This is probably even more relevant to international business transactions (including real estate transactions in Bulgaria) involving parties from different nations and sometimes huge amounts of money.

Inevitably every practicing lawyer in this field is confronted with the task either to provide legal advice to a client seeking to make sure that his contract contains a provision for the most effective and convenient settlement of disputes which are likely to arise in the future, or to actually argue a case as counsel in disputes.

If are an EU citizen and you want to stay in Bulgaria for more than 90 days, here are the rules which apply. As you'll see they are pretty much the same as in any EU country. The old situation pre-EU of only being allowed to stay in Bulgaria for 30 days without obtaining a visa is no longer applicable.

You can now stay in Bulgara for up to 90 days in any six month period on just your passport or ID card. It is important to know how this 90 days in six months is calculated.

Can EU citizens purchase land in Bulgaria? The answer is not straightforward. The long overdue amendment in the Bulgarian Properties Act has already been enacted, but this did not make things any clearer as we all expected and hoped for.

This is why we have undertaken an attempt to analyse the complex regulation of this matter, which refers back and forth from the Properties Act to the Treaty for Bulgaria’s Accession to the European Union and vice versa.

Inevitably there are cases in real estate transactions when things go horribly wrong.The classic situation is when you find out that a third person has initiated litigation against you claiming to have ownership rights on the property or land that you had just purchased.

Whilst this is a rare occurrence in Bulgaria, there are many reasons as to why this can happen and each case must be looked at individually. In this article we look at how you can check that you have good title on your purchase before you part with any hard earned cash.

If you are considering a permanent move to Bulgaria then you may be asked to provide certain documentation with an Apostille attached. Indeed, when I first encountered this phrase I was left wondering why my sons’ birth certificates needed certification by the Church!?

Further investigation proved that an Apostille is the legal term used to refer to the legalisation of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Bulgaria, the Russian Federation, France and the UK are all signatories to the Convention.

Inevitably, there are cases in real estate transactions, when things go horribly wrong. The classical situation is when you find out that a third person has initiated litigation against you claiming to have ownership rights on the property or land that you had just purchased. Whilst this is a rare occurrence in Bulgaria, there are many reasons as to why this can happen and each case must be looked at individually. In this article we look at how you can check that you have good title on your purchase before you part with any hard earned cash.

The following represents a brief explanation on how to make an investigation on a property at the Land Registry.